Living Life ( #AtoZChallenge )

Life is the most important gift we will ever receive.  It's one of those gifts that keeps on giving if we are willing to accept it and if we aren't willing then the gift of life keeps on giving anyway.  Appreciate the gift by living life...

          My April posts are looking at my life not only as it was, but as it is and where it might go in the future.   I like my life most of the time and even when I'm not liking it so much, I tend to not hang on to the bad things as much as look forward to the next good things and, more importantly, appreciate the good things that are right in front of me.

         There have been a few dark times in my life when I thought it might be nice to cash in my chips and drop out of the game.  Those times never lasted long thankfully.  They were passing phases of dealing with loss or disappointments.  Then I'd see the sun shining, hear the birds singing, and sense the good all around me.  It's always best when the good expunges the evil.

          No point in letting other people, bad circumstances, or anything else drag me down.  I've got a lot to live for in respect to my dreams and experiences yet to be had.  And of course there are my grandchildren.  I want to live life because there is so much still to live for...

Four of my NJ grandchildren after Marley (in sunglasses) performed at a concert.

          To repeat the mantra of our late A to Z Blog Team leader Tina Downey, "Life is good!"   I tell myself that often.  I must be convincing because I believe it: Life is good and living life the best we can is a good thing to do. 

          I plan to be living life for the rest of my life which I hope is a long time to come. 

          2051 here I come!

          Have you ever considered just giving up in life?   Do you think the value of life is lessened when the quality goes down?    What keeps you focused on goals ahead of you (even if you don't know exactly what those goals are yet)?

Knock Knock ( #AtoZChallenge )

"Knock knock!"
"Who's there?"
"This is me!"
"Why are you knocking so loud?"
"Because I have my degree from the School of Hard Knocks."
"Where's that school?"
"Knoxville."

Door knocker in Florence, Italy

           

        Opportunity knocking at my door has gone unanswered on many occasions.  Hard to say what different outcomes there might have been in my life if I had welcomed those missed opportunities.  Many of us have likely done the same.  Perhaps it was fear or uncertainty that prompted us to pretend we weren't available.  It might have been laziness or just a lack of self-confidence. Whatever the reason, once an opportunity was lost, it was rarely offered again.

         Now I'm hoping for a new knock at my life's door.  I'm waiting.  What will I do when it comes?  Will I find some excuse not to answer?  Do I have time to make excuses or any good reason to do so?

          Conversely, maybe I will need to knock on some doors.  Maybe a lot of doors.  Doors that might go answered.  There might be a fearful voice inside begging me to go away or a disgruntled face appearing before me telling me they are not interested in what I have to offer.

          "Come on!  I'm not selling Fuller brushes, overpriced vacuum cleaners, or Amway products.  You might like what I've got.  Please give me a chance!"  I say (though not in those exact words).

           "Go away!  I don't need or want what you've got!"

             Still I must persist.  Time is ticking away.  I need to get this done.  Maybe the next door will be the one.

             Knock knock!


           Have you ever done door-to-door or cold call sales?  Do you tend to get discouraged easily when you don't find quick success at something you're doing?   Where might be places you might go to seek investors for a business proposition for which you needed money to get off the ground?

       





                                                                                                                                    

Quitting Quitting

           Do you think of yourself as a quitter?  Do you sometimes throw up your hands with a flourish and announce to the world that you're going to give up?  Or is your method a silent slinking off to leave one thing behind  to start another?   Then again you might be one of those people who are determined to finish something "even if it kills you".

            Sometimes quitting is good.   I quit smoking--twice!  If I quit once and then started a second time does it really mean that I ever quit?   The first time I "quit" smoking I went for about eight years without a cigarette.  Then I went back to a heavy smoking habit for another seven years before I quit for the second time.  That was thirteen years ago.  I don't think I'll ever start smoking again but perhaps I should say "never say never".  Perhaps I am merely on another smoking hiatus, but I'd like to think that I've quit forever.

            That's a good kind of quitting, but what about the kind of quitting we regret later?   People quit for different reasons--time, money, health, frustration,  and other factors can enter into the picture.  There are solutions for everything, but sometimes they just don't seem worth the hassle when we are faced with making a decision.  Before we quit anything we should decide whether or not we will regret it later,  and if so what are the alternatives to quitting entirely.

             I don't want to be a quitter when it comes to things for which I am passionate.  I don't want to quit doing what I know deep down I should finish.  Giving up on something to which I have devoted much and just walking away with regret is a decision to have squandered what I have put into my previous efforts.  Seeing one's efforts to a satisfactory ending is good investing.   I want the payoff, even if it is not the one I originally expected.  Give me a return on my investment of time, effort, money, and passion and give it to me with interest earned and a satisfaction of a job seen through to completion.

            A quitter is not the label I want to be known by.  I am going to try my best to quit quitting when quitting is not in my or anyone else's best interest.  Quitting quitting is not always going to be easy and may not always be possible, but at least I can say I tried.





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